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With the surprise unveiling of the rally-inspired Nanuk Quattro Concept, Audi stunned the crowd at the Volkswagen Group Night event held ahead of the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show. Nanuk is an Eskimo word that means “polar bear” and Audi says that the name was inspired by one of their old commercials. The ad in question features an old Eskimo teaching a young one tracks in the snow and quickly identifying a set of car tracks as belonging to an Audi quattro.

Designed by Italdesign Giugiaro, the Nanuk Quattro is half sports car and half rally car. With inspiration from the Audi Quattro Concept as well as the R8, it’s powered by a mid-mounted twin-turbodiesel V-10 good for 550 hp and 738 lb-ft of torque that’s sent to all four wheels via a beefed-up seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. The V-10 is reportedly from a new modular Diesel engine family that supports multiple cylinder counts.

Though made mostly of aluminum and carbon fiber, the Audi Nanuk Quattro Concept weighs in at around 4200 pounds – you can thank the twin-turbodiesel V-10, air suspension, and four-wheel steering for the weight (more on that in a sec). Nevertheless, Audi says the Nanuk Quattro will do 0-62 mph in 3.8 seconds and hit a top speed of 190 mph. Even more impressive is its fuel economy, a claimed 30 mpg combined on the EPA cycle.

Enabling the duality of a sports-rally car is the Nanuk Quattro’s adaptive air suspension and four-wheel steering. The electronically-controlled air suspension has three modes: normal, low (1.18 inches lower), and high (1.57 inches higher). The system is predictive, automatically lowering the car on paved roads and raising it on gravel ones. Like most four-wheel steering systems, the Nanuk Quattro’s turns the rear wheels opposite at low to moderate speed and with the front wheels at high speeds. The rear wheels can turn up to nine degrees opposite the front wheels at low speeds and as much as 2.5 degrees at high speeds.

Visually, the Audi Nanuk Quattro Concept shares much with the Lamborghini V-10 Read more: http://www.motortrend.com/news/best-niche-ever-mid-engined-italdesign-4wd-coupe-has-lamborghini-v-10-336865/#ixzz2eREZY2dU Follow us: @MotorTrend on Twitter |Italdesign Giugiaro Parcour Concept. Exaggerated and angular, the Nanuk Quattro sports signature Audi touches like its hexagonal grille, the (other) Audi Quattro Concept’s large air inlets, and the R8’s side-blade air intake. The four-ringed headlights mimic Audi’s logo, while its doors, which open up like those of the McLaren 12C, give it extra pizzazz. Even cooler, the engine sits under a piece of glass in the middle and is accessed by flipping the clamshell-style rear bodywork as if you’re working on a Lancia Stratos.

Though not particularly likely to see production, the Audi Nanuk Quattro Concept’s interior is pretty feasible aside from the camera-based side- and rear-view “mirrors.” The interior is designed to minimally distract the driver, so there’s no infotainment system. All of the car’s navigation and controls, like the air suspension, are controlled by a touch wheel on the carbon fiber center tunnel and steering wheel, with information displayed on a programmable instrument panel screen.

Audi says the Nanuk Quattro is purely a concept that is designed to gauge reaction toward a sports car with greater ground clearance. Well Audi, you have our attention. Now, when can we drive it?